Navigation (II)

Competition navigation mode can be used for competition, to navigate through different waypoints (route) or just to go to a waypoint with a given circle around it.

For competition, read more details about the different widgets available for competition in the competition subsection of the XCTrack Pro widgets manual.

A video tuto for competition has also been produced. Watch it in the video’s page.

More details can also be found about compliance for FAI category 1 competitions in the FAQ

If you have set a task previously, you will land on the ‘Nav’ tab with the task details.

Click on the pencil in the top right corner to edit the task, or click on the three dots to access the menu features.

Once you click EDIT, you can enter all the task properties as seen on the task board.

At any time, you can click ‘Clear task’ to revert to the default settings and remove the different waypoints.

Once you have set the task, click on the Save button.

Manually setting up the task

Measuring distance

XCTrack supports both FAI Sphere and WGS-84 ellipsoid for computing distances. Choose it in the drop down menu. Most competitions nowadays seem to require WGS-84 model. The two formulas give slightly different results. Depending on your Earth location you can expect the difference of about ~0.5%, with FAI sphere formula giving bigger distance in usual competition venues. This is important to have in mind nowadays with large cylinders becoming popular in PG comps in recent years. On 50km cylinder radius the difference between FAI sphere formula and WGS-84 formula can be about 200-300m, which can very easily result in making the cylinder in XCTrack yet missing it in the view of the scoring software (!).

Set the time of the start and the task deadline.

Adding Waypoints to a competition task

There are different ways to add Waypoints to a Competition task. The most common way during competition is to add Waypoints, one by one, once the Waypoints file is activated (see above how to activate a Waypoints file).

Click ‘Add turnpoint’ to enter the Waypoints screen. Select each turnpoint and radius. When you select the first turnpoint, you can choose whether it is a regular turnpoint or the start. Once the first turnpoint has been selected, a third option will also become available: ESS.

Please note that if there is any inconsistency when you save the task, the role may change. The first turnpoint is considered as start by default, and the last one is considered as goal. However, you may decide that the second waypoint is the start, in which case the first waypoint would be considered as take-off. The last turnpoint can be considered both as ESS and goal. Alternatively, you could decide that the last waypoint is the goal and the previous one is the ESS.

Enter takeoff, or not?

It does not matter if you enter the takeoff as a waypoint or start your turnpoints list with the first turnpoint (usually SSS). First turnpoint if automatically marked as TAKEOFF.

If you start your turnpoints list with the first turnpoint, make sure to mark this waypoint as SSS (otherwise taken by default as takeoff). Takeoff is never a target of navigation, but is used to correctly compute the task distance (see Measuring Distance above).  You can specify the radius for the TAKEOFF turnpoint, but this radius is never used and even not displayed in the turnpoint list, unless you unmark the TAKEOFF flag (by converting it to SSS, pressing on the SSS button).

SSS, ESS

SSS stands for Start of Speed Section. This is usually called start cylinder in Paragliding competitions, but XCTrack uses the SSS term just because it is easy to remember and short. ESS stands for End of Speed Section and is generally used in competition tasks. ESS is the cylinder (unless it is identical with goal line), where the task clock stops.

EXIT type turnpoints?

XCTrack does not distinguish between ENTER and EXIT cylinders – you have to cross the cylinder boundary in order to make the turnpoint. This works very well for all the tasks ever seen in paragliding scene. For common enter turnpoints XCTrack navigates you inside the cylinder in order to make the turnpoint, for (rare) exit turnpoints the XCTrack navigates you the shortest way outside.

Save battery?

Do not worry about quiting XCTrack if you wait on the takeoff too long. Once you leave the task edit screen in XCTrack, the task is saved and you can safely quit XCTrack or turn off the device right away. The task will be loaded and ready to fly once you start XCTrack again.

Distance check

After putting in the task, check the distances at the bottom of the EDIT screen with the task board. The min distance is the shortest distance calculated from the takeoff all the way up to the goal line (or to the boundary of the goal cylinder if goal cylinder is used). If the TAKEOFF turnpoint is not specified then the distance is computed from your current location. The distance through centers is the task distance not counting in the turnpoint cylinders, useful as reference value for checking with simple instruments.

Settings: Create alerts at the right time

You can set up different alerts that will be displayed and sounded at the configured time before the start.

Once you have done this, go to Menu > Preferences > Sound & Alerts and scroll down to the Competition subsection. Find ‘Speed section will open soon’. You can then select the type of notification you want: sound, alert or both.

If you want to configure the sound, click on it. To see how to configure this section, check more details in Menu > Preferences > Sound & Alerts.
You can choose to have a sound only, a spoken message only, or both.

NAV: Select your turnpoint

Once everything is set up, you can quit the ‘Competition’ task setting. By default, the system expects you to start first.
However, if you want to go directly to a specific turnpoint for a specific reason, just click on it and confirm.

Alternative solutions for creating a Competition task

There are many alternative solutions to create a Competition task.

• Convert a Waypoints/XC Navigation task to Competition task (check more details in the Waypoints/XC Navigation task mode above)

• Create the route from a webpage such as AIR³ TDD Task Manager.
  Click on the map on the take off to create your first waypoint, click on the map for each turnpoints and set the radius. Once finished, you can either save the task as a xctsk file, show the QR code or get a cloud ID.
  Check more details how to get a task from AIR³ TDD Task Manager here.

• Create the route from another device using XCTrack, generate a QR code and scan it on the receiving device. On the exporting device, once you have created the task, go to Navigation → Competition task Menu (3 dots) → Share task … → Display QR code. On the receiving unit, go to Navigation → Competition task Menu Menu (3 dots) → Load task from … → Scan QR code.

• Create the route from another device using XCTrack, generate a picture with the QR code and load it on the receiving device. On the exporting device, once you have created the task, go to Navigation → Competition task Menu (3 dots) → Share task … → Display QR code → Click on the share icon    to transfer the picture through any communication mean. On the receiving unit, go to Navigation → Competition task Menu (3 dots) → Load task from … → Read QR code from a file → Click on the saved picture.
• Create the route from another device using XCTrack, generate a task file and load it on the receiving device. On the exporting device, once you have created the task, go to Navigation → Competition task Menu (3 dots) → Share task … → Save to other applications  to share the file through any communication mean. On the receiving unit, go to Navigation → Competition task Menu (3 dots) → Load task from … → Import from a file → Select the file you have just downloaded.

• Create the route from another device using XCTrack, generate a cloud task code and load it on the receiving device. On the exporting device, once you have created the task, go to Navigation → Competition task Menu (3 dots) → Share task … → Upload to cloud → Click on the  share URL or share CODE to communicate the task through any communication mean or just communicate the task code.  On the receiving unit, go to Navigation → Competition task Menu (3 dots) → Load task from … → Download from cloud → Type the code. If you have shared the URL on the exporting device, open the URL on the receiving device. You can either just type the code as just explained, or download the task file on the unit. Once done, go to Navigation → Competition task Menu (3 dots) → Load task from … → Import from a file → Select the file you have just downloaded.

• Click on the “Add turnpoint” as described above once you are in the Competition task page and add waypoints manually, one by one.
• Use the “add the point to a route” option in the pop-up menu of the Map Panning mode of a XC Map widget or Competition Map widget, as described above to add different waypoints directly from the map.
• Use any of the 6 first methods and enhance the route/task with one of the 2 last methods to add more waypoints.

Select Live pilot if you want your navigation to point to the selected live pilot

You can easily create a route from a webpage such as AIR³ TDD Task Manager

When you are happy with the route, you can either get a cloud ID to fetch the task directly into XCTrack or display the QR code to scan it.

Here are the step by step details:

Open your browser and go to the AIR³ TDD Task Manager.

Select a CUP or select Load or Create a task not linked to a CUP.

Click on the map on the take off to create your first waypoint, click on the map for each turnpoints and set the radius. Once finished, you can either save the task as a xctsk file, show the QR code or get a cloud ID.

With XCTrack, go to Menu/Navigation/Competition task.

Click on the three dots in the top right corner and select ‘Load task from’.

You can then either scan the QR code, download it with Cloud ID, or import it if you have downloaded a xctsk file.

Cloud code steps:

QR code scanning

Fly and enjoy your flight, well prepared. Just follow the direction given by the arrow!

Once the task imported, with XCTrack, you can edit your task (change the type of race, SSS crossing type, radius of each turnpoint,… You can also change the name of the imported waypoints by  “copy waypoint to internals” button. You can then edit the waypoint, including changing its name or setting the right altitude.